Ecita Ise Audit Summary

Members of the vaping community have asked what exactly the ECITA audit covers. Whilst we are unable to publish the full details of this, we have provided a summary below. We hope you will find this useful.

ISE Audit Summary

General Product Safety Regulations compliance:

• Recent liquid testing, and any follow-ups if required (i.e. if the stated nicotine level is not within acceptable variations, or if a contaminant were found) (report should be filed in the ISE Compliance File, together with all other compliance documentation, which can then made available to government regulators);
  
• Batch numbers (in case of product recall);
  
• CE, RoHS and other batteries regulations, required documentation;
  
• Health and Safety (At Work) Act measures (where applicable);

Data Protection Act compliance:

• Computer security measures, to ensure customers’ data is safe;
  
• Contingency planning in the event of a security breach;
  
• Paper shredder.

Point of Sale/Marketing materials:

• If such materials are used, we check that they are free from medicinal claims, prohibit sales to under 18s, correct contact information displayed, etc.;
  
• We also check documentation in support of any claims made about cartridge sizes, longevity, etc.;
  
• There should be no misappropriation of brands and trademarks; and
  
• Clear product descriptions.

Customer service (including some Advertising Standards compliance):

• Complaints log should be up to date;
  
• Complaints should be properly logged and actioned;
  
• No inappropriate or illegal claims should be made in representations over the telephone to customers;
  
• In the event that a customer’s complaint has not been settled satisfactorily within 14 days, ECITA is available to intervene, with a specific policy protocol in place. (We have not yet had to use this.)

Storage:

• Are product storage areas secure?
  
• Are product storage areas clean/hygenic?

CHIP:

• Child-resistant caps (together with report from independent government analyst);
  
• Tactile labels (of the correct dimensions);
  
• Correct warning symbols;
  
• Correct risk and safety phrases;
  
• Indelibility testing report (for labels). (This is a service we provide at no extra cost to our members);
  
• No indefensible claims on packaging/labelling;
  
• Correct contact information;
  
• Correct chemical content information, as per EC requirements;
  
• Appropriate allergen warnings;
  
• Correct product markings.

Weights & Measures compliance (if applicable):

• Compliance logs should be filled in, up to date, and readily available;
  
• Labelling should be correct;
  
• A spot check is done at each audit (if the vendor is selling ‘free’ liquid, i.e. bottles), and the audit sample (taken at random from the vendor’s stock) should be of the correct weight/measure, to within the acceptable tolerable negative error, which is 9%.

Website Audit:

• Website must be free from medicinal claims. This has yet to be tested in law, but our standard is that it is not acceptable to say ecigs are ‘healthier’ or ‘safer’ in isolation, but these terms are acceptable if qualified by ‘than smoking’. 'Quit smoking' claims are not permissible;
  
• Under 18 sales must be clearly prohibited;
  
• There should be a phone contact number prominently displayed;
  
• There must be no indefensible claims about product performance (documentary evidence must be supplied in support of all claims);
  
• Out of stock items must not be listed for extended periods;
  
• There must be no misappropriation of brands and trademarks;
  
• Clear products descriptions; and
  
• Terms and conditions/returns information must be easily accessible, and legally compliant.

Please note that, according to Trading Standards, providing any omissions/errors in CHIP labelling are not too egregious, it is ok to sell through existing stock, but we follow up to ensure that subsequent batches are correctly labelled, once this has filtered through the ordering process.

Obviously, the above is only a summary, and the auditing process is far more detailed. Audit reports often run to more than 15 pages, but this is then very useful documentation for vendors to have on file when government regulators pop by to see what they're up to!